Two out of five mayoral candidates say yes to Western's invitation

By Brendan HoweGazette Staff

All five mayoral candidates were invited to Western yesterday for a media forum and campaigning opportunity, but only two hopefuls decided to attend.

Acting mayor Grant Hopcroft and candidate Freedom Schell came to campus yesterday for a forum on CHRW and then spoke with members of the University Students' Council. Jim Montag, Antreas Arevian and Dianne Haskett were all missing in action after being invited but not showing up.

USC municipal affairs commissioner Nick Iozzo said he invited the candidates to come to last night's council meeting so councillors could find out how the next potential Mayor felt on issues involving students. The candidates made a brief speech and then answered questions from council members.

Hopcroft told council he is a former Western student, while Schell recalled an experience he had in a political science class while at Western. Discussion centered around the issues of a universal bus pass, price of student education and the role of the Mayor as a member of Western's Board of Governors.

"If we could get support from someone as powerful as the Mayor on the Board of Governors it could sway a lot of the other governors' votes," Iozzo said.

Newly elected senate-at-large member Abe Prabhakar said he was impressed the two candidates would take the time to come speak with council. He added he thought Hopcroft did a very good job at answering questions posed by councillors and Schell had some good ideas but was not quite as well spoken.

"Students are an integral part of the London community. The fact they're realizing that is a great thing," he said.